Antenna Documentary Film Festival

It starts on 13th October, with an Opening Night at Chauvel cinema in Paddington with the screening of On the Bride's Side, which is the perfect film for those interested in the refugee crisis in Europe. On the Bride’s Side depicts the conflict in Syria and its people through a rather humorous and positive way. The filmmakers/journalists help their Syrian friends cross Europe to gain asylum in Sweden by setting a fake wedding while skipping borders. The film has been at the Venice Film Festival, IDFA, Hot Docs, Dubai International Film Festival, and one of its three directors, Khaled Soliman Al Nassiry, will be at the screenings of the documentary.

The festival closes on 18th October at Chauvel cinema with the screening of Finders Keepers. This is a documentary with a theme you would not believe exists! The film tells the story of Shannon and John and their huge dispute which became a hit in the U.S. media due to its very particular non-sense of the case: John has decided to get back something that belongs to him: His amputated leg that he had forgotten about and left in an old grill he kept at a storage place. The problem is that he was only reminded about it when he saw his leg on TV, now as a star, thanks to Shannon, who bought the grill at auction, found the leg inside it and created a profitable public attraction out of it! Drinks will accompany this screening to close the festival for this year.

For further information and special events please visit antennafestival.org

The Birth of Sake

Dir. Erik Shirai/ Country: USA/ 90 mins

Yoshida Brewery, a small 144-year-old family-owned brewery in northern Japan is the location where we are immersed in The Birth of Sake. Documenting the function of this factory, the lives of their most important employees and the process of sake manufacturing as such, the film tells us everything we ever wanted to know about sake. Erik Shirai gets brewers to talk about what it is like to be a sake maker and the impact it has on their society and at their homes. For them personally it means being away for six months every year from their family and hometown and instead to co-habit in the factory with their fellow co-workers. This is probably their very first chance to express themselves and to tell a filmmaker how it is to live such a life. The film also explores this lifestyle through the cold Japanese winter and the uncertainty surrounding the future of traditional sake making due to the competition out there with other more commercial beverages and industrial made sake. In addition to closely depicting all the hard work invested in the six month process to produce handcrafted sake and the brewers lifestyle around it, the film also follows the youngest brewer whose equally important job is to take sake samples to bigger cities and to make the sale.

This is a very authentic and slow paced film full of magic, beautiful shots, dynamic interviews and engaging stories. At the same time it teaches spectators about sake and Japanese culture through words, definitions and meanings, while closely examining the process of sake crafting along side the lives and challenges inside the families of the workers. It also raises questions of traditions in Japan and the role of coming generations in keeping them alive, as well as the critical future of sake as produced in this traditional factory. Watching this film is like tasting the finest sake: a superb cultural experience. 

For more information on session times click here

Pervert Park

Dir. Lasse Barkfors, Frida Barkfors/ Country: Sweden, Denmark/ 77 mins

Pervert Park depicts the day-to-day life of sex offenders in the U.S who live in a caravan park in Florida under custody. It takes us through the routines of some of the convicts and by intimate interviews we discover their crimes and their thoughts about their existence and condition. The film also reveals to us how they are controlled by a very clever and convenient application for Smartphones which generates 24/7 surveillance over them while it has a profile and critical data for each of the offenders as well. We also get to meet the counsellor who talks to us about the real issue of sex offences from their point of view, and by doing so, our usual and judgemental opinion on this topic will be challenged.

Sex crimes are one of the most horrible things people can be exposed to, yet the offenders are still humans and the system is not really working towards making a better world for victims and for them. In a very non-judgemental or patronizing way Pervert Park lets us explore what is it like to be on the other side of the coin and the situations and emotions sex offenders go through. This caravan park gives 102 people a better quality of life and allows a certain degree of reintegration to society after spending time in prison, as well as counselling and therapy. Though it is a sole initiative of a single woman's altruism whose son became a sex offender years ago. There are not enough of these places in the U.S. and the mainstream solution of punishment and jail by the system seems not to be the best approach to this issue. 

For more information on session times click here

Spartacus and Cassandra

Dir. Ioanis Nuguet/ Country: France/ 81 mins

Camille, a trapeze artist and founder of a small circus in Paris has given little Cassandra and her brother Spartacus shelter after finding them begging in the streets with their parents, all of them from Romania. The documentary takes us to their universe and the duality these two kids face every day between a sane present and promising future next to Camille, and the toxic and aggressive atmosphere with their parents is explored in this film. They both seem to know what they want, but the constant conflict and aggressiveness from their parents draws them back and diminishes their existence when they are around. Camille's dream is to give these two kids a real home and construct a family once she is able to buy a house in the countryside. Who will Spartacus and Cassandra end up with? How hard would it be to say goodbye to their parents for the sake of their emotional health and future? How is Camille going to deal with this situation forever?

This is a beautiful story of two fortunate kids and a woman whose passion, love and faith in them is bigger than her own desire for comfort. The film follows the characters lives for years capturing the milestones of this family and Camille while Cassandra and Spartacus leave their childhood and start their teenage years. It also depicts the central characters in a very intimate and non-judgmental way. The situation of Romanian kids and families in big cities such as Paris with all of their obstacles in the society, on public streets, within their neighborhood and schools comes through in the film. Through Camille we spectators can also get a taste of the authentic French mentality of progression regardless of social and national background, which is based in education. 

For more information on session times click here

WORDS: Gina Rubiano is an Arts and Cultural Manager, specialised in film. Her passion is the acquisition, exhibition and distribution of cinema, and her professional background has mainly consisted of roles in which she has been able to promote and grow new audiences for great films in Australia. Find her on LinkedIn.